Erik Storm says it happened by accident while he was guiding a tour in Kalapana last year. Storm says he set down his GoPro camera and it became engulfed in a lava flow. Storm says he used a rock hammer to extract the camera after the lava began to cool and harden. He thought for sure the camera was destroyed but was amazed to see the blue Wi-Fi light still blinking.

Storm has rejected accusations that the incident was staged. He says the 2016 video is just now getting attention because a professional photographer he recently spoke to wanted to feature it in a story.